


Empathy Is A Hell Of A Burden To Bear

by Caelidra



Category: Ceta-Synth
Genre: Demons, Empath, Gen, Magic, Monsters
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-28
Updated: 2015-10-28
Packaged: 2018-04-28 14:32:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,528
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5094239
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Caelidra/pseuds/Caelidra
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Kate isn't like other girls. Other girls aren't like other girls either. We're all unique and your tropes are terrible. Get over it.<br/>Intro to a character in my best friends story, who happens to be based on me. Magic, monsters, and a cat. What more do you want?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Empathy Is A Hell Of A Burden To Bear

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Hotspur](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hotspur/gifts).



Kate Path didn’t put much stock in friends. That’s not to say she didn’t have any, but they were what you would call friends of convenience. Someone that’s in most of your classes and you get along with fairly well, so you might as well eat lunch together and hang out after school sometimes. Anything more than that was more effort than she was willing to give. People are just so exhausting to be around, constantly having to think about everything you’re going to say and trying to get a word in edgewise. She’d much rather spend a quiet evening with her friend, the aptly named Cat.

On a nice day, when the pile of homework she always seemed to have was being particularly surly, Kate would take a brisk, responsibility-avoiding walk through the woods behind her house. There’s a special childhood magic to backyard forests, more fun and imagination can be found in a few acres of trees than you could ever find in a video game or tv show. A few minutes of walking would bring Kate to a large tree stump. And there, without fail, curled up in a sunbeam or watching a springing cricket with predatory eyes would be Cat. He’d give her a casual glance and a lazy stretch before hopping off his perch to take his place by her side, dragging his black tail across her shins in greeting. (In case you haven’t guessed already, Cat is literally a cat.)

He was too friendly to be just a feral cat, but when she had asked around the neighborhood years ago no one had claimed him. She didn’t try to take him home though. He seemed to be content with his situation, and Kate wasn’t dumb enough to argue with a cat. Still, she would leave a dish of food out during the colder months, although if he were somehow be able to inquire about it she would assure him that it’s just for any cat that might be wandering by in need of a snack. Cats have surprisingly fragile egos. They tend to take any implication that they can’t hunt for themselves as a great personal offense, and heaven help you if you get on a cat’s bad side!

She knew his secret though. Cat absolutely loves cheese sticks. Even though she didn’t care for them much herself, Kate always remembered to grab one from the fridge on her way out to share with him. Even independant felines have their guilty pleasures.

She was on one of these quiet walks when it happened. It was late afternoon, and Kate was heading back home for supper and probably a stern lecture about getting homework done before going out to play. She was in the middle of giving Cat a rambling summary of the book she had finished the night before when it hit her. A feeling of sick wrongness slid down her spine and wrapped itself around her stomach, stopping her mid-sentence. Hand clamped firmly over her mouth, she held as still as possible, trying to keep her stomach from depositing its contents all over her shoes. She stayed that way for a few minutes, though it felt like hours, until the unpleasant sensation finally faded away to a nagging feeling at the back of her mind. She’d had weird feelings like this before, but never this strong. Cat gave her a questioning meow. Heart still racing, she looked down at him apprehensively.

“I think something bad just happened…”

* * *

A few miles away, in the pile of trash behind a cheap fast food joint, a faint scrabbling could be heard coming from behind a dumpster. The day-old corpse of a rat lat twisting and twitching among the scattered garbage, as if something had crawled inside and was now getting comfortable. It stopped abruptly, and with slow, deliberate movements, rose to its tiny clawed feet. A pale yellow-green glow seeped from its beady eyes as it peered into the muddy shadows of the alleyway.

_Hungry_

****  
  
  


* * *

Kate trudged off the bus and down the driveway to the front door. The nasty feeling had lingered in her mind long into the night and she was _tired_. She had been so distracted that it had taken twice as long to finish her homework, and her sleep had been restless at best. She’d gotten more than a few dirty looks for yawning in class but, ironically, she was too exhausted to care. Shuffling to her room at the end of the hall, she slid her heavy backpack off her shoulder onto the floor with a thud and flopped face-down onto her bed, with just enough presence of mind to kick off her shoes before drifting into a much needed nap.

She jolted awake a few hours later, heart pounding in her chest and ears filled with a strange whispery buzz. Restless anxiety sat in her ribs like a fat, ugly toad.

“Not again!” She groaned, shoving her face into the pillow and letting loose with a frustrated growl. The horrible feeling from yesterday was back with a vengeance, although thankfully lacking in the nausea this time. She contemplated whether it would be worth the effort to try and explain the uneasy sensation to her parents. She dismissed the idea though; they’d probably just chalk it up to her usual anxiety and tell her to quit over reacting. It’s not as if they could really do anything about it anyway.

The loud, hollow thud of a plastic garbage can falling over outside the window startled her out of her grumpy musing. She rolled over off the bed and headed towards the open window that faced the side yard where they put the trash. As she got closer the buzzing in her head seemed to increase in volume, like the static on an old tv set. She peered out the window, tsking at the debris already scattered all over the grass and concrete walk. Whatever creature had done it was now burrowed into the remaining contents of the can, causing it to rock back and forth erratically. Her eyes widened in surprise as she spotted what appeared to be an almost 2-foot long rat tail trailing through the trash that spilled from the container.

_That’s WAY too big to be a normal opossum!_ she thought in confusion, _What kind of animal has a tail like THAT?_

_HUNGRY_

Kate’s head jerked backwards as the disturbing word slithered through the noise in her head, sending a violent shiver down her spine like ice-water. _Did it just…_

“Kate! Are you up yet?”

Her mother’s voice was startlingly audible after whatever it was that just happened in her head, making her jump and turn towards the source. Her mom opened the door and stepped inside.

“C’mon Hun, it’s almost time for dinner. I need you to set the table, and I’m sure you haven’t done any of your homework yet, have you?”

“No…” Kate replied reluctantly, “I was tired, so…” She trailed off in embarrassment.

“You wouldn’t be so tired if you didn’t stay up late reading all the time. I keep telling you, you need to manage your time better!” She scolded.

“But… I was… Never mind.” She sighed.

Maybe that wasn’t the cause of her exhaustion this time, but late-night reading was admittedly a bad habit of her’s. Besides, her mother probably wouldn’t believe her if she said otherwise anyway. She had a tendency to compulsively lie when put on the spot, and she’d gotten a bit off a reputation. Her first reaction when faced with her family’s anger or disappointment was to try and tell them something to direct the painful emotions anywhere but herself. She usually wasn’t successful though. Just another bad habit in need of breaking.

A timer beeped from the kitchen and her mom hurried out of the room to heed it’s call. Kate remembered the long-tailed vandal and rushed back to the window to try and get a better look at it. She was too late though, the mysterious animal had already disappeared, and it seemed to have taken the anxious feelings and strange sounds with it. Kate stared down at the mess it had left behind.

_I hope they don’t make me clean that up…_

* * *

Ah Saturday, the perfect day to sleep in.And a good thing too, since Kate’s sleep had once again been less than peaceful. The disturbingly large animal had been on her mind the rest of the evening, and sleep had brought her no relief. Nightmares had plagued her much of the night, dreams of being chased through tunnels and forests by a monster covered in hundreds of gnashing mouths nipping at her arms and legs as she ran, always just inches away from catching her. But more frightening than the disgusting maws was the single set of cold, glowing eyes that watched her in her perpetual flight. Everytime she had stolen a glance behind her at the advancing terror the sight of those malicious eyes had filled her with chilling, absolute certainty that the beast not only wanted to devour her flesh, but her soul as well. She had woken in a cold sweat, her alarm clock declaring it to be 3 AM. She got a drink and splashed some water on her face before spending the rest of the night relatively dream free.

She might very well have slept all day if her mother hadn’t dragged her out of bed around ten, making it very clear that she would NOT be lazing around all day. After a quick breakfast she made her way out the front door to check for mail. She didn’t expect there to be anything for her, probably just junk mail and bills, but a girl can dream. Reaching the nondescript mailbox at the end of the drive, she pried open the creaky metal flap and checked the contents. It revealed a disappointing haul of an ad paper and a postcard reminder from the dentist. Lame.

The slam of a car door drew her attention to a truck labeled “Animal Control” parked in the neighbors drive. As she watched it back out and drive away she had to wonder what it could have come out to such a quiet neighborhood for. Maybe someone had caught that enormous mutant possum digging in their trash and called the authorities. She certainly hoped so. Just the thought of that thing running loose in her town left a bad taste in her mouth. She hadn’t seen it’s head, but something that large must have a nasty set of teeth on it. With a shudder she made her way back into the house.

Kate slapped the meager post onto the table as she made her way into the kitchen. Her mom was loading the handful of breakfast dishes into the dishwasher.

“Mom, do you know why Animal Control was at Mrs. Malkovich's house?” Kate asked her. She turned, wiping her wet hand  on a dish towel.

“Oh hun, I forgot you were asleep during all the hubbub this morning. Something attacked her little dog when he was out in his yard last night.”

“Oh no! Is Mr.Snuffles okay?”

“No sweetie...” Her mother gave her a pained look. “Whatever animal got at him… ate most of him. He’s dead.”

Kate stared at her in shock for a moment as the news sunk in.

“Did… did they catch the thing that killed him?” She managed to squeeze out.

“No, I don’t think so. It was long gone by the time anyone knew something had happened.”

“Oh, so they’re still looking for it then?”

“Well, no honey, they don’t even know what it was. They can’t just hunt down every wild animal in the county. Animal Control will be on alert in case something else happens, but that’s all they can do right now.”

Kate stared at the floor and tried to process this. She had a pretty good idea what monster had done this, and there was no doubt left in her mind that the creature from the night before had been a monster and not just a freakishly large vermin. But who would even believe her if she told them?

“Don’t dwell on it, dear. You’ll only make yourself upset,” Her mom chided, pulling her out of her thoughts. “Take your mind of it and help me with the kitchen. I need you to pull the trash bag and take it out, please.”

She went to do it without her usual grumbling. Her dad had cleaned up the mess in the yard for her last night so she wasn’t going to push her luck. She heaved the heavy plastic bag out of the bin and towards the door, trying to keep it from dragging across the floor. Reaching the can in the side yard she swung the bag up and into the vaguely reeking space. The smelly deed done, She paused for a moment before heading back in. The trashcan now had some new scuff marks and a dent in the side, and a few tiny pieces of paper and refuse were still scattered across the grass where her father had missed them in the fading light of yesterday evening. She looked over at her bedroom window, just a few feet away, and shuddered. That _thing_ had been right here, a single wall between it and the bed she had been lying in.

It was then that she turned and noticed Mrs. Malkovitz, sitting on her porch like she usually did when watching Snuffles putter about. But now there was no dog in the yard, and Kate could practically feel the despair radiating from the elderly woman as she stared blankly forward. The little shih tzu had been dumb as a fluffy brick, peeing on everything in sight and barking at nothing in the wee hours of the morning. But the mourning old lady in front of her had loved him more than anything in the world. And now he’d been murdered by a monster and nobody was doing anything about it!

The sadness that had been surrounding her hardened into something darker. Anger coiled in her chest like a snake and her fingers curled into fists as she started to shake. This wasn’t some raccoon stuck in a chimney; some animal killed and ate a dog and they had just blown it off like it was nothing! How long would this thing be left to run loose around her neighborhood, attacking people's beloved pets, before they decided to take this seriously? Anything that could eat a lapdog could badly injure a small child if given the chance. But worse than all that was the fact that maybe if she had told someone right away what she had seen that night none of this would have happened!

With this thought her building rage broke free, and without thinking she brought her clenched fist up and launched it at the brick wall of her house with as much force as she could muster.

_*crunch*_

She froze, eyes wide, and waited for the pain of broken fingers to register in her brain. When it failed to arrive she slowly raised her gaze to her seemingly unharmed hand, knuckles still pressed against the wall. Little chunks of brick and powder rained down as she carefully drew back her fist. She stared silently at the shallow indent of broken masonry, as if she had just taken a sledgehammer to it, and then down to her shaking hands. She stayed that way for a minute.

_Could this week get any weirder…_

Acting mostly out of habit, she made her way through the backyard and down the path she’d worn between the trees over the years. Maybe talking to Cat would help her sort out the growing mess in her head. When she got to his stump though, he was strangely absent. It might be silly to expect him to be there every time, but he always had been up until this point. This was not good for her already frayed nerves, and she opened her mouth to call for him.

The Feeling hit her like a punch to the gut, and left her so shocked she almost didn’t her Cat’s distant yowl a moment later. She stood there for a second before a horrified understanding clicked into place, and in the next she was gone, racing towards her friend. And danger.

* * *

Kate ignored the branches and leaves that whipped her face and limbs in her mad dash through the woods. Fear fueled her legs as she raced to find Cat in time. A fallen tree that would normally take her a few moments to clamber over was now hurdled in one movement. A dozen half-heard voices whispered in a language she couldn’t understand, buzzing in perverse excitement at the edge of her hearing as another drawn out yowl echoed through the trees. The frozen sliver of terror that ran through her heart at the sound added a new speed to already swift pace.

She seemed to be heading down a familiar path that led towards a small field near the center of the woods. Except for the darkly gleeful buzzing there were no other sounds as she broke from the treeline into the clearing. As soon as her mind processed what she was seeing she came to an abrupt stop, eyes wide in horror and disbelief. Crouched among a few lumps of torn up sod, about the size of a very large dog, was an unnatural creature that could be loosely defined as a rat. Its skin seemed to hang from its body like a patchy old rug, and its spine protruded through it in boney points. Her gaze was drawn from the horrifyingly familiar glowing eyes down to the mouth with a disturbing amount of teeth that was clutching the limp body of her feline friend.

The abomination caught sight of her, its body tensing as the beady eyes focused on the new target. Cat’s still form dropped to the ground, forgotten in the discovery of a better meal. Kate stood frozen in place, eyes locked with the monster’s. She knew the moment she moved it would be after her, but even if she stayed still it would make the first move soon.

**_I HUNGER_ **

Kate gave a jolt as the murmurs coalesced into a single hissing voice, seeming to come from all around her.

**_YOU WILL MAKE ME STRONG, MAGELING_ **

She stood in shock at what she had just heard, and the beast chose that moment to charge. It made it halfway to her before the sight of the rapidly approaching demon snapped her out of the mental paralysis. The now familiar sensation of fear burst in her chest, and acting on an unknown instinct she pushed it down her legs as she leapt to the side. The creature slid to a stop, its momentum causing it to tear up furrows of dirt and leaves with its wicked claws. Kate landed with a less than graceful roll and scrambled to her feet. Her jaw dropped when she saw just how far she had managed to jump. She had landed almost fifteen feet to the left, farther than any athlete could have jumped, let alone a teenage girl. Her astonishment was interrupted yet again as the demon brought itself around for another charge. Kate glanced over her shoulder and took a few steps back and to the side, positioning herself between a sturdy looking tree and the monster. She braced her feet in the ground, limbs trembling with fear and adrenaline as it bore down on her. The pieces were coming together for her, and this time she kept control of the feeling of terror that twisted and coiled inside her, waiting for just the right moment as the monstrous rodent drew closer and closer. She waited until it was only a few feet away before she released her hold on the fear, letting it loose like a spring that launched her into the air a split second before the demon reached her. This time she landed on her feet, and a satisfying thud sounded through the clearing as the monster ran headfirst into the tree, leaves and twigs drifting down from the force of the impact. She allowed herself a satisfied smirk, but it faded quickly when she caught sight of Cat a few yards away. He hadn’t moved from where he’d been dropped, and from this distance she couldn’t even tell if he was breathing.The chilly tremble of fear she had been keeping hold of changed into a lump of hot iron  burning in her core. This monster comes to _her_ neighborhood, hurts _HER_ friend!

Hands clenched into fists, and this time they were shaking for a different reason. She looked down at her right hand, and saw that it had a pulsing red aura to it this time. An angry hiss from behind her revealed the enraged abomination staggering to its feet, baring its crooked teeth and glaring at her with an intense hatred.

**_KILL YOU! EAT YOU!_ **

She met its eyes with a rage of her own, magic burning like sunlight through her veins. She slowly reeled back her shimmering fist as the demon charged with an unnatural shrieking. It lept, jaws opened wide, and her fist shot down towards its head.

**_*CRUNCH*_ **

Kate blinked a few times, somewhat astonished that she’d actually managed to pull that off. There was a shallow crater in the ground, and the flattened pile of moldering flesh and crushed bone fragments looked like it had been run over by a steamroller once or twice. She took a few steps back from the now headless corpse, shaking out her stinging hand. The foreign emotions that had always plagued her had condensed into a tangible power that shifted inside like a sluggish whirlpool.  She spared the desiccated body one last cautious glance before turning away, but there was nothing more to fear from the rapidly crumbling monster. She hurried over to her fallen friend, dropping to her knees and pulling his limp body gently into her arms.

"C... Cat? Are you okay?" She carefully pressed her hand onto his side, trying to feel for a pulse or a breath, any sign of life from her best friend. Her palm came away red from his black fur. She tried to swallow the lump in her throat as hot tears welled up in her eyes. She clutched him close to her chest as the crying started in earnest. The floodgates opened wide and every ounce of love and sadness inside her flowed out in a rush, broken sobs echoing through the otherwise silent woods. After a few minutes it trickled into the occasional pathetic sniffle.

"If you're quite done, would you mind easing up on the hug? I'd rather not have the life squeezed out of me twice in one day."

"Oh, sorry..." Kate mumbled, before she realised what she had just heard. She looked down at her arms to see Cat slide out of her grip and stretch languidly.

"Sweet Freya that hurt! I'm going to be stiff for days."

Kate was starting to feel a little lightheaded.

"Um, Cat? How are you talking... and not dead?" Perplexed was not a strong enough word for how she was feeling right now.

"Psh! Well first of all, I've always talked, YOU just weren't listening. And second, I wasn't dead, just mostly dead. Big difference, especially when it comes to magic."

"Magic? Is that what this weird power is? Did fighting that rat... monster... thing unlock my magic?"

"Nah, your magic has been building up for a while now. Getting attacked by devouring demons just speeds the process up a bit. You actually have quite a lot of magical potential in you, it's one of the reasons you've got a familiar so early."

"I have a familiar?" Kate burst out excitedly.

Cat gave her a deadpan stare like only a cat can.

"Me, you dork. This may come as a surprise, but most felines have better things to do than hanging out with teenage girls discussing young adult novels everyday. Which reminds me, if I have to listen to one more recounting of a vapid love-triangle between a bunch of supernatural special snowflakes, I'm gonna claw your flippin nose off. Read some Shakespeare or something, you're rotting your brains out with that junk!"

"Oh come on, it was one time..." she grumbles, before getting back on track.

"So if you're my familiar, does that mean you're a magic cat?"

"Ha! Unlike common animals, all cats are magic. Although, being the familiar to a powerful mage makes me more magical than most of them, too." He puffed out his chest like an arrogant pigeon.

"Uh, no offense, but I don't think I qualify as a 'powerful mage'..."

"We'll work on it," he said, "and then we'll rub it in the face of that fat ginger smartass that lives down the block..." he trailed off with some quiet maniacal laughter.

Kate looked askew at him for a moment.

"You are... not what I would have imagined." She said as she rose to her feet.

"What else did you expect from a cat? We are creatures of sass and disdain, plain and simple." He stated aloofly, and began strutting towards the path home with an air of superiority that was comical more than anything else. Kate shook her head as she followed after him. On second thought, this is EXACTLY  what she would have imagined his personality to be. An egotistical doofus.

Kate tried to recall anytime before that she had felt this drained as the pair wearily trudged through the underbrush, but she failed to think of one. She had used up most of her emotions, and she could feel the little pieces of leftover fear inside her building into an anxiety attack. This time though, she wouldn't let it get the best of her. Using her newfound power, she grabbed a hold of the unpleasant feeling with her mind and imagined drawing it out in a small ribbon of magic, wrapping it around her wrist like a bracelet. Looking down at her arm she could see a shimmering band of translucent yellow that floated over her skin like an ethereal bangle. She was filled with a new sense of calm and certainty that left a smile on her face, and for once she was feeling optimistic. Things were about to change for the better. She just knew it.

* * *

Sarah Malkovitz sat on her porch, staring blankly at her empty yard. She had lost her dear Snuffles a few days ago, but it still felt like a piece of her had been ripped out. She was brought back to reality by a set of small paws landing gracefully on her lap. Looking down revealed a handsome black cat settling himself into a purring ball on her legs. She then noticed the neighbor girl walking up to her, book in hand with a sympathetic smile on her face.

"Mind if we join you?"


End file.
